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The United States is concerned that Palestinian Authority
presidential election frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas is failing to
distance himself from the radical al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in an
apparent bid to win votes.

"It's disturbing," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC
television. "I know that what Mr Abbas is doing is running for
election. And he has to reach out to all parts of the Palestinian
community."

But Mr Powell said he saw a disconnect between Mr Abbas' failure
to clearly repudiate the radical group and what he "has been saying
with respect to the need to end terror and the need to try to
persuade all segments of the Palestinian population to move away
from terror and to move toward this opportunity for peace".

"That, I believe, is his prevailing position," he said.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of the dominant
Palestinian Fatah faction, has refused to renounce armed struggle
against Israeli occupation and has embraced the second intifada as
just.

Mr Abbas has accused Israel of deliberately trying to undermine
next week's Palestinian presidential election by launching
large-scale military operations in the Gaza Strip, including a new
incursion by about 50 Israeli tanks on Sunday.

Mr Abbas hopes to succeed the late Yasser Arafat as head of the
Palestinian Authority in the January 9 ballot, and has declared his
opposition to the use of weapons in the four-year intifada, or
uprising.

But the 69-year-old Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman
said he hoped to persuade armed factions such as Hamas and the
al-Aqsa Martyrs to end their attacks through dialogue rather than
with a violent crackdown, as long demanded by Israel.

Mr Powell said if elected, Mr Abbas may have to work harder to
distance himself from radical elements. "Mr Abbas said he hopes to
persuade them, but that may not be enough.

The challenge may be greater than that.

"He may have to undertake operations against them. I think he
knows that the only way forward with a successful election behind
him is to reform the Palestinian Authority, end corruption, make
sure that it's an authority that rests on law, reform the security
services. "What he's going to find is that the Israeli Government
will be ready to work with such a partner for peace," Mr Powell
added.

Mr Abbas can expect to win 65 per cent of the vote in next
week's presidential election, against 22 per cent for nearest rival
Mustafa Barghouti, a poll showed on Sunday.

Dr Barghouti has long campaigned against the use of violence in
the four-year-old uprising against Israeli occupation known as the
al-Aqsa Intifada.

The poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey
Research said 71 per cent of those surveyed thought Mr Abbas the
most likely candidate to reach a peace deal, but only 49 per cent
supported ending armed struggle. A similar number supported
continuation of the armed struggle.

The poll also suggested that Mr Abbas could have lost if
uprising leader and Palestinian MP Marwan Barghouti, jailed by
Israel for aiding militant attacks, had not abandoned his
presidential bid last month.

The Barghoutis are distant cousins.

The total sample size for the poll was 1319 people interviewed
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.